Current frontiers and recommendations for the study of microplastics in seafood

For seventy years, mass plastic production and waste mismanagement have resulted in huge pollution of the environment, including the marine environment. The first mention of seafood contaminated by microplastics was recorded in the seventies, and to date numerous studies have been carried out on shellfish, fish and crustaceans. Based on an ad hoc corpus, the current review aims to report on the numerous practices and methodologies described so far. By examining multiple aspects including problems related to the definition of the term microplastic, contamination at the laboratory scale, sampling and isolation, and quantification and identification, the aim was to point out current limitations and the needs to improve and harmonise practices for future studies on microplastics in seafood. A final part is devoted to the minimum information for publication of microplastics studies (MIMS). Based on the aspects discussed, MIMS act as a starting point for harmonisation of analyses. (C) 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.